(a) Field
The present invention relates to a method for supporting flow mobility.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, the NetExt (network-based mobility extensions) and MIF (multiple interfaces) working groups of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) have been researching technologies for supporting mobility service over multiple interfaces. Particularly, technologies for providing mobility for each certain application flow are being examined.
Since the Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) can support multi-homing, a mobile node (MN) with multiple interfaces can simultaneously send packets to a PMIPv6 domain that supports multiple interfaces over the multiple interfaces.
When a flow moves from a current interface to a new interface, a home network prefix (HNP) used by the flow is assigned to the new interface. This action can discontinue the ongoing sessions on both interfaces since the HNP cannot be used in an old interface.
In the case that an HNP is shared by multiple flows, when only some of these flows are moved from the old interface to the new interface, the old interface and the new interface should be able to share the same HNP. This function is not supported by the current PMIPv6 standard.
Further, after moving flows to the new interface, if these flows share the same HNP, a mobile access gateway (MAG) and a local mobility anchor (LMA) should be able to forward flows based not only on the HNP but also on flow identification. That routing capability is not supported by the current PMIPv6 standard.